New Delhi. A day before the general budget, Congress has raised the demand to announce in the budget about the increase in MSP of crops in accordance with the recommendations of Swaminathan Commission along with legal guarantee of MSP to farmers. Along with this, the party has advocated for waiving the farmers' loans and said that if the bank loans of lakhs of crores of rupees of capitalists can be waived, then farmers cannot be deprived of its benefits.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Monday, as soon as the Parliament session began, that three major announcements need to be made by the Central Government in the budget coming on Tuesday. First, the MSP prices of 22 crops should be increased under the C2 50 percent formula in accordance with the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission. He said that the Central Government does not consider the purchase of crops necessary by giving legal status to MSP, but Congress clearly believes that a strong system of purchase of crops can be established by giving legal status to MSP.

'Establishment of a permanent commission is essential'

Emphasizing on the third demand of farmer loan waiver, Jairam said that it is necessary to set up a permanent commission to assess it. Citing the recent example of Telangana, Jairam said that as per the election promise, loans up to Rs 2 lakh of 40 lakh farmers in the state will be waived. During the Prime Ministership of Dr. Manmohan Singh, agricultural loans worth Rs 72,000 crore were waived in UPA-I.

Bank loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore of capitalists were waived off

Jairam said that the Modi government has waived off bank loans of Rs 16 lakh crore of capitalists. On the other hand, the Reserve Bank has given a record dividend of Rs 2.11 lakh crore to the central government this year. Despite this, not even a single rupee of the farmers' loan has been waived off.